


Broken Circuitry

by Qille



Series: The Vengeance Series [8]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Absolute fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-24
Updated: 2015-11-24
Packaged: 2018-05-03 03:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5275532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qille/pseuds/Qille
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lalna is having trouble with his prosthetic arm, but luckily, Nano is there to help. </p>
<p>Post-Fallen oneshot. This is when the shipping begins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Circuitry

It happened again. Of course, it happened all the time, but not now. Not when she was with him.

It was late at night. Usually they would both be in different parts of the castle by now; she would be in her tower sleeping, and he would be in his lab, working on some miscellaneous project and watching her while she slept like he normally did. That was when it would usually happen. Almost every night, like clockwork. When it happened, he would cut off the portal letting him see her so that his screams wouldn't wake her up. The pain that followed was usually so intense that he would pass out and wake up later. It was usually the only sleep he got.

But this time was different. He was with her. They were working on a project that had taken them all day. He was teaching her how to build a force field emitter. She was learning quickly, like she always did.

He only realized what time it was when he began to have trouble moving his right hand, the mechanical one.

_Oh no..._ he thought. _Not now... not while she's here..._

“Hey Nano, I think that's enough for tonight,” he hurriedly said. “It's late, we're both tired, we'll pick this up in the morning, okay?”

Nano shook her head, not looking away from the blueprints pinned to the wall above the crafting table. “I'm not tired,” she said. “I took a nap while you were explaining how the force fields worked.”

He gulped. The pain was starting to appear, running along his right arm and down to the end of his prosthetic arm. It should have stopped where his arm stopped, but as usual, it didn't. 

“Yeah, okay, well _I'm_ tired, so you should probably go,” he said hurriedly, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. He only had a minute left.

Nano picked up on how stressed he sounded. She turned around to face him, looking a bit concerned.

“Lalna, are you okay?” she asked, seeing how deathly pale he looked.

Lalna gulped. “I'm fine, I'm just tired. You should leave now.”

Nano crossed her arms and looked up at him with worry. “What's wrong? Are you sick or something?”

He shook his head. “No, it's just-” Suddenly, his mechanical hand clenched into a fist, both from the pain and from the short circuit that the pain always sparked. A few wisps of smoke wafted up from his arm. 

Nano stared at his arm for a moment before looking back up at Lalna.

“... Uh... just a bit of broken circuitry...” said Lalna with a gulp. His vision was getting blurry as the pain in his arm intensified. He wished it was as simple as a bit of broken circuitry. That he understood. But he still couldn't figure out why there was pain in his arm that no longer existed.

Nano stepped closer and took hold of his mechanical hand. She gently pulled it away from his body, since he was holding it so close to his chest.

“It looks like you just broke your thumb,” she said, inspecting the metal hand. “Do you want me to help you fix it?”

Lalna shook his head a bit. “No, I can- AH!”

Pulling his hand away and clutching it to his chest, he dropped to his knees, shaking as the pain intensified. He bit down on his lip to keep from screaming, drawing blood.

Nano gasped and knelt down in front of him.

“Lalna, what's wrong?” she exclaimed.

He shook his head, hyperventilating. “I... I d-don't know...” he stammered before crying out in pain.

Nano was shocked. She had never seen him like this before, and it was terrifying.

“H-hold on,” she stammered, jumping to her feet and running across the room. She took his portal gun and shot a portal against the wall. Then she disappeared out the door, and a minute later, she returned, this time through the portal.

Setting the gun down, she went over to Lalna and, with some difficulty, pulled him to his feet. It was difficult because he was so much bigger than her, but she managed to drag him through the portal.

The portal put them in her tower. She pulled him over to her bed and sat him down. 

By now, the pain was so intense that he was starting to see spots. This was usually the part where he passed out.

Nano made him lay down. She wasn't sure what the problem was, but she didn't like the way his arm was throwing off sparks. Without thinking about it, she unhooked his prosthetic from his arm.

Almost instantly, the pain faded. Lalna almost passed out from the relief.

“What... what did you... just do...?” he gasped out, trying to catch his breath and lower his heart rate. 

“I... uh... took your arm off,” said Nano uncertainly, standing there awkwardly holding the metal arm.

Lalna opened his eyes and looked at her. He smiled a bit, seeing her standing uncomfortably and holding his arm, not sure what to do with it. He held out his hand, and she handed him the arm.

“Hm... I guess it _was_ actually a bit of broken circuitry,” said Lalna, inspecting the area where his prosthetic connected to his arm. The wires and gears were all worn down and melted. Not only that, but the nerve sensor had shorted, which was why he felt pain in his mechanical arm. Or at least... that was one of the reasons. He was certain the phantom pain had something to do with it too.

“How did I not think of that before...?” Lalna muttered to himself. He felt a bit foolish for spending the last few weeks fiddling with the controls in his arm but not taking the actual arm off to inspect it. He didn't like taking the arm off because it reminded him of when he lost his actual arm.

“What do you mean _before_?” exclaimed Nano, sitting down next to Lalna. “How long has this been going on?”

Lalna shrugged, setting his arm on the bedside table. “Uh... a while...”

“How long is a while?”

“Just a couple weeks.”

“A couple weeks?!” exclaimed Nano. “Oh my gods Lalna, you've been dealing with this for weeks and you didn't think to tell me? I could have helped!”

“It only hurt for a few minutes,” said Lalna, looking up at her. He didn't feel the need to mention just how much pain he had endured. “And besides, you were usually asleep whenever it happened, and I would usually forget about it in the morning.”

Nano shook her head in exasperation. “What exactly was it that was going on?”

Lalna shrugged a bit. “I guess it was some unholy mix between the broken circuitry and phantom pain.”

“Phantom pain?” asked Nano.

Lalna nodded. “Yeah, sometimes I can still feel pain from the arm that I lost, and sometimes it feels like my arm's still there...” He glanced down. It felt like he was clenching his fist, but then he remembered it wasn't there.

“Why did it only happen late at night?” asked Nano, scooting a bit closer to Lalna.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” said Lalna, laying back against the pillows. It was very late, after all, and the night before he had fallen asleep in one of the derailed minecarts from his TNT canon. He had only slept for three hours and he had a cramp in his back for the rest of the day. An actual bed was a welcome change, even if he didn't end up sleeping or if Nano kicked him out. It didn't seem like she would, though, seeing as she had moved so that she was lying next to him.

“Could it be because you were alone?” asked Nano quietly. 

Lalna shrugged a bit. “Probably. I never really had any troubles with my arm when I'm with you...”

Nano smiled. “Aw, that's so sweet,” she said, closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder. He was glad that she was on his left side, the side with his remaining hand. 

“Y'know,” said Nano, “you could just sleep here. I can keep you company so you don't feel the pain as much.”

Lalna nodded. “I would appreciate that,” he said, taking Nano's hand in his. 

They lay there for a few minutes. Nano was already falling asleep, snuggled up against Lalna's side.

“Y'know,” said Lalna, “I could just fix the transmitter. That should stop it from happening again-”

Nano sleepily slapped her hand over his mouth. “Be quiet and go to sleep.”

Lalna smiled tiredly, and Nano curled up against him. He wrapped his arm around her, and they both fell asleep like that.

After Nano helped him fix his arm the next morning, the phantom pain never returned.


End file.
